JACOBVAN DERBEUGEL

The DNA Room at Huis ten Bosch 2019

The DNA Room at Palace Huis ten Bosch is an art installation that comprises of nearly 60,000 handmade ceramic blocks that depict the DNA of the King and Queen and future Queen of The Netherlands. Additionally, it portrays a global citizen, a past portrait and a future portrait, where areas of the genome have been highlighted that provide engaging metaphors of our past and our future survival. It embraces the notion of inclusivity and diversity as the best means of our future survival. The installation documents small sequences of the royal couple’s DNA, but also proposes the wider significance of context when understanding, the self, evolution, institutions and the environment. Ultimately, the artwork is a request that we understand everything we do, and everything we are, as fundementally and inextricably interdependent. It is a request for a less anthropocentric outlook.